Nigerian footballer held with fraud visa

Star footballer of Police Athletic Club of Kolkata — Eze Kingsley Obumneme — from Nigeria was held up by the immigration authority at Delhi Airport for possessing fraud visa. His documents made the immigration officials at the airport suspicious after he arrived for immigration clearance at the airport.

According to police, the accused approached for immigration clearance to Nigeria on June 29 and was supposed to travel by flight number ET-687. But on scrutiny of his passport and registration papers, it was found that Eze, who had arrived in India with a working visa as footballer, was valid up to May 11, <g data-gr-id="28">2013</g> on which he registered himself with Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) Bangalore.

He subsequently moved to Kolkata to get him registered. The accused had played in the local Kolkata league for the Police Athletic Club. On questioning the footballer revealed that in April 2014, he was supposed to play in a tournament in Mizoram but his visa was expiring on May 9, 2014. He also mentioned that he, however, managed to get a fake visa from <g data-gr-id="30">local</g> agent in Kolkata by paying Rs 1,25,000 and moved to Mizoram to participate in the tournament. He said his agent arranged an employment visa which helped him to get registered at FRO Mizoram.

Meanwhile, FRRO Bangalore confirmed that the visa on which he registered himself at Mizoram FRO is not issued to him by them. According to reports the visa was issued to a Malaysian citizen of Indian origin, <g data-gr-id="25">Mathurai</g> <g data-gr-id="26">Sithra</g>, has been tampered by the agent and given to the accused.

Police filed a case under Sections 420/467/468/471 of the IPC and Section 14 of the Foreign Act. “We are investigating the matter further,” said MI Haider, DCP (Airport).